The Game Informer Show

Are you an avid gamer in your 20s? Then odds are you probably grew up playing the Nintendo 64 during its golden years in the late '90s. On this week's episode of the Game Informer Show podcast, fans of Nintendo's 64-bit console come together to share their fondest memories of this important piece of Nintendo history. After sharing our personal Top 5 Favorite N64 Games and answering your N64-related questions, we interview composer Grant Kirkhope (Goldeneye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Yooka-Laylee) and the hilarious video game comedy sketch group Mega 64. The first half of this retro love-packed show features your hosts Ben Hanson and Tim Turi, as well as two of GI's biggest N64 nerds: Ben Reeves and Brian Shea. Listen or watch below to see how well your favorite N64 cartridges match up with ours. Stick around to hear Kirkhope talk about Rare's heyday in the '90s, the powerful impact nostalgia has had on his career, and more. Mega64 wraps up the show by sharing their experiences working with industry luminaries like Shigeru Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima, as well as the fine art of weirding out regular people on the streets with video game absurdity. If you're hungry for discussion on this week's hot releases, like Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Destiny's House of Wolves expansion, we've got you covered. We talked about the game extensively with Kim Wallace on last week's episode of the Game Informer Show podcast, and you can watch us play and dive into House of Wolves on this three-hour archived livestream. (Please visit the site to view this media) If you'd like to jump to a particular section of the show, check out the timestamps below. Warning: They might spoil the rankings of our favorite games on the system... 12:39 - Goldeneye 007 17:16 - Super Smash Bros. 22:29 - Starfox 64 24:19 - Pokemon Snap 28:36 - Banjo-Kazooie 32:14 - Super Mario 64 40:37 - Resident Evil 2 42:50 - Perfect Dark 47:45 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 55:46 - Paper Mario 1:01:14 - Listener/Viewer E-Mails 1:29:01 - Rare Composer Grant Kirkhope Interview 2:16:07 - Comedy Video Team Mega64 Interview

It feels like a big week for underdogs with the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Project Cars. Both games have earned praise for their entries in relatively crowded markets, and you can read our reviews for The Witcher 3 and Project Cars for more information. On this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, Ben Hanson and Tim Turi are joined by the dynamic RPG duo Kimberley Wallace and Joe Juba. In the first segment we drain Kim's mind for her full impressions of The Witcher 3, talk about the joys of racing wheels with Project Cars, discuss the announcement of Assassin's Creed: Syndicate and Igarashi's Castlevania-inspired Kickstarter Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The episode also contains some fun questions sent in my listeners to podcast@gameinformer.com before things get heated in a "Back of the Box" trivia round. Enjoy the show! (Please visit the site to view this media) Check out the timestamps below to jump to a specific discussion... 2:00 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27:30 - Project Cars 35:40 - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate 44:42 - Igarashi's Castlevania-inspired Kickstarter for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night 53:20 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3DS 55:52 - Listener e-mails 1:31:03 - Back of the Box Trivia

This week, we tackle a gruesome open-world zombie hit, a time-twisting adventure, and the reinvention of a Nintendo classic. First up is Dying Light, Dead Island creator Techland's new zombie franchise. It's certainly based off Techland's past work, but takes the zombie genre in new directions with a more serious tone, parkour-influenced traversal, and intense action and storytelling. Host Matt Helgeson is joined by Game Informer's Brian Shea and Jeff Marchiafava, who tell us all about it. In the second segment, we talk about the first installment of Dontnod's episodic adventure game. Dontnod's Remember Me was an interesting, yet flawed title, and Life is Strange takes some of the best elements while implementing better mechanics – and tackling some genuinely edgy issues. Reviewer Kim Wallace stops by along with Ben Reeves and Ben Hanson. Finally, Kyle Hilliard and Ben Reeves talk about The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, the excellent new remake of the classic action/RPG. It's the best version of Majora's Mask to date, making it perfect for those who've never played it or veterans looking for a much-improved trip down memory lane. (Please visit the site to view this media)

Throughout the last month we've covered a lot of ground with our coverage on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, but we wanted to open the doors and let the Game Informer and Naughty Dog communities directly ask game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann questions about the game. The studio is still holding a lot of their cards close to their chest, but we asked them dozens and dozens of questions and I think you'll learn a thing or two about the fourth entry in the beloved series. Listen to the podcast below to learn more from Straley and Druckmann about Sam Drake, some nitty-gritty game design decisions, and what it's like to work on the PlayStation 4. (Please visit the site to view this media) To learn more about Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, click on the banner below to enter our now complete hub filled with Uncharted 4

We rave about a recent video game-music centered convention, and express mixed feelings about the return of a classic LucasArts adventure game. In the first segment, Ben Hanson and Jeff Cork stop by to have a slight disagreement about the rerelease of LucasArt's noir adventure Grim Fandango. We also debate the art of remastering a game and a take a brief detour into trying to figure out what the hell happened in Beyond: Two Souls. Next, host Matt Helgeson is joined by Brian Shea and Tim Turi to talk about MAGFest (Music and Games Fest). It's an annual event that gathers some of the brightest lights of the video game music scene, from composers to video-game cover bands to chiptune artists. Tim was at this year's MAGFest, and Brian has attended the past three. It's an interesting and unique event in the video game year that you should know more about. Note: Dying Light is not covered in this week's show because our review has not been posted, we will cover it in next week's show. (Please visit the site to view this media)

In this episode, we give a detailed breakdown of Microsoft's new holographic technology and talk about two big game releases. We kick things off with HoloLens discussion, as host Matt Helgeson is joined by Andy McNamara, Brian Shea, and Jeff Marchifava. Andy attended Microsofts event, and got to experience HoloLens firsthand, and has a lot of insights and observations to provide on the intriguing new technology. Next up, is latest entry in Volitions gonzo Saints Row series: Gat Out of Hell. Andy Reiner and Joe Juba, two longtime Saints Row fans, have played the game and have a lot to say about it. Finally, Tim Turi, our resident Resident Evil expert, talks about the new HD remaster of the classic first game in the series. (Please visit the site to view this media)

In this podcast, we get to know the newest member of the GI team, and talk about this week's Nintendo news. First up, host Matt Helgeson is joined by our new editor, Brian Shea. You'll be reading (and hearing) a lot more from Brian in the future, so we decided to give you a little listen into his personal history as a writer and gamer. Here's Brian's introductory blog post. In the second segment, Matt is joined by Game Informer news editor Mike Futter to discuss the recent Nintendo Direct streaming news conference and all the announcements that came with it. We also speculate about Nintendo's future and outlook for 2015. (Please visit the site to view this media)

We had some technical problems last week that resulted in our podcast cutting off prematurely. We've corrected this problem now have the complete recording. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused. As before, it's GI's Matt Helgeson, Tim Turi, and Dan Tack talking about the Game Informer Best of 2014 game awards. (Please visit the site to view this media)

It was a topsy-turvy year for games, marked by controversy and some amazing games. We talk about it all, and look forward to 2015. Host Matt Helgeson is joined by GI's Matt Kato, Tim Turi, and Andrew Reiner for this free-form GI Show, which touches on many of the games, headlines, and controversies that marked 2014. (Please visit the site to view this media)

To coincide with our January cover story on the ambitious No Man's Sky from Hello Games, we've been rolling out features all month in our content hub. We've covered a lot of ground, but there's still an infinite number of questions that you can ask the team at Hello Games about the infinite universe that they're creating. To help with this task, we turned to our community and chose the questions that have not been answered anywhere else in our coverage. On this special edition podcast we're joined by the founder of Hello Games Sean Murray and we barrage him with your questions. Hopefully, you learn something new about the game. Listen to the podcast below to learn even more about No Man's Sky before its release next year. (Please visit the site to view this media) Click on the banner below to enter our now-finished hub of exclusive content for No Man's Sky.

In this episode of the GI Show, we talk about Mojang and Telltale's unlikely collaboration, talk to our interns about breaking into game journalism, and discuss a captivating new puzzle game. First up is the surprise news of the week: Telltale's Minecraft: Story Mode. It's definitely not something we ever expected, and host Matt Helgeson has to play referee as Andy Reiner, Kim Wallace, Ben Hanson, and Jeff Cork spar over whether this is a good idea or not. In the second segment, our departing interns – Matthew Stolpe, Jason Dafnis, and Sam Stewart – talk about their experiences at Game Informer and offer tips to aspiring game journalists looking to get a break. Finally, Ben Reeves stops by to talk about a very interesting new puzzle/adventure game called The Talos Principle. (Please visit the site to view this media)

We discuss Sony's new fan convention, the game awards formerly known as the VGAs, new Destiny DLC, and Ubisoft's The Crew. First off, host Matt Helgeson is joined by Andy Reiner, Kyle Hilliard, Ben Reeves, and Ben Hanson to talk about the weekend's two big video game events: Sony's PlayStation Experience convention and Geoff Keighley's retooled Video Game Awards. Both received positive notices both online and from those who were there, and were packed with big reveals and game announcements. We discuss all the highlights. In the second segment, GI's "Destiny Posse" (Andy McNamara, Matt Miller, and Brian Vore) stop by to talk about the game's new DLC, The Dark Below. These guys are addicted, and have logged hundreds of hours into the game, so they have a lot to say about this new content. Finally, Jeff Marchifava, Andy Reiner, and reviewer Matt Kato race (get it?) into the studio to talk about Ubisoft's open-world driving game The Crew. It's not everything it could have been, but it's also a tremendous technological achievement. Listen to hear what went wrong (and right) with this interesting racer. (Please visit the site to view this media)

This week we discuss Telltale's newest game based on HBO's blockbuster fantasy series, plus two interesting new titles. First off, host Matt Helgeson is joined by Andy Reiner and Jeff Cork to talk about Telltale's new Game of Thrones adventure series. Episode One is promising, showing that the formula established with The Walking Dead can easily traslate to the world of Westeros. In the second segment, Kim Wallace stops by to talk about the new Atlus RPG crossover game, which blends the best of the Persona and Etrian Odyssey franchises. It's one of the year's best RPG experiences. Finally, Dan Tack, Tim Turi, and Ben Hanson are on hand to talk about a grim, emotionally draining new survival game called This War of Mine. It's a very deep meditation on the nature of war and existence, and leads to some interesting discussion. (Please visit the site to view this media)

We're nearing the end of our month of coverage for our December cover story Just Cause 3. We've covered everything from the process of designing sandbox gameplay to our hands-on impressions, but we wanted to give our community a chance to ask the game's director their burning questions. In this special edition podcast we're joined by game director Roland Lesterlin from Avalanche Studios New York and we pry a mountain of information out of him for the Just Cause fans out there. Listen to the episode below to learn more about the gameplay, world, and the team's approach to fan mods. (Please visit the site to view this media)

This week's podcast focuses on two of the year's biggest games, Ubisoft's epic open-world shooter Far Cry 4 and Nintendo's long awaited Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. First up, host Matt Helgeson is joined by two other Matts – Matt Bertz, who reviewed the game, and Matthew Kato. There's a lot to say about this expansive FPS, and the pair extol its virtues and also its flaws. In the next segment, we have GI Show regulars Tim Turi, Andy Reiner, and Jeff Cork on hand to talk about Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, plus a new face – GI intern Sam Stewart. Spoiler alert: these guys really like Super Smash Bros. (Please visit the site to view this media)